


Take It Slow

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-20 00:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4765958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	Take It Slow

Bucky didn't sleep much, he didn't require eight hours to fully go through his day. He was built like a machine, after all. He stayed up at night and thought about his life, remembering things and writing them down, as suggested by Sam. He liked sitting up on the roof to watch the night sky turn into the morning. From up there he could see Brooklyn and Manhattan. It was calm. But it was lonely, everything in his life was lonely. He felt like a lost piece in the world's puzzle. Everyone fit in somewhere, especially in the tower. They tried their best to include him but it was difficult for him. He liked training and going on missions, after he'd sit up on the roof all night. Sometimes Natasha would come up to pull him into a board game night or movie night. He'd go, but never willingly. 

One night while they played a game called Scrabble, he took his motorcycle to Brooklyn. It had changed so much, in little and big ways. It didn't feel like home. Not without Steve. Not knowing that his family, the ones that were still alive, thought he had been dead. It was a thought that kept him up as much as the others, his family. His little sister was alive, the baby of the family. Leaving them and Steve behind was the hardest thing he'd had to do, up until then of course. He was afraid to look into how their lives were after he died, he wondered about the girls he dated when he was younger; did they mourn him? Did they tell their grandkids about Bucky Barnes? He didn't really want to know. 

He saw her from a distance, she was older now. He 'd never really seen her before, only on the HYDRA surveillance. He was thankful his mission changed and he went after Fury instead of her. He didn't want to train someone to be like him, especially someone Steve knew well. He remembered seeing pictures of her in Steve's apartment and then two years later at his funeral. He knew about her past, about her team and her friend that died. She knew a lot about him too, more than he knew about himself. She was kind to him, Bucky suspected she  thought he was attractive. It upset him, but he had a hard time finding a reason to be mad at a pretty girl who could also kill someone with her weapon and bare hands. But she didn't kill, Natasha told him that. She also told him Clint would kill him if he tried anything on his girly-girl. 

Seventy years later and dads still had a problem with him. Clint was by no means Kate's dad, he knew her father from a distance. He'd probably love his daughter to date the Winter Soldier. Maybe not love but, the man would do anything to profit. It made him feel strange looking at her through the window. She was handing out bowls of soup to people. He made eye contact with her and quickly walked away. His cheeks were red and he felt like his head was going to pop off. He went back to his bike and started to ride back to the tower when she caught him. 

"Bucky?" she squinted at him. 

"Hey, Kate... thought that was you in there." he tried to sound casual.

She walked forward and smiled at him. "What are you doing here?" 

"I could ask you the same thing, Manhattan." the harsh words came out before they could process. 

She cocked an eyebrow at him. He remembered Kate wasn't one to be told off, as told by Steve. "I volunteer here every Wednesday. I have been for the past ten years."

He suddenly felt even worse. He looked down and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry..."

"You okay?" she was right by the bike. 

"No different than usual." he shrugged. He would lie to Sam and the others about how he felt, he had no obligation to lie to Kate. "Wanna ride?"

She raised both eyebrows and shrugged back. He handed her a helmet and tried not to tense up and she used his metal shoulder to stabilize herself as she got on. She didn't wrap her arms around him, which might have disappointed him in his past life but made him more comfortable now. Clint wouldn't kill him for taking her around Brooklyn, right?

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him. 

"Uh, I really don't know. It's late but I don't want to go back to the tower, it's game night." he tried not to growl at her. 

"Ew, I hate game night. They cheat." She snarled. 

He smiled and tried not to look back at her to smile. He also hated that they cheated. "Is the park still here?" 

"Yeah, there's a playground now too." she informed him. 

"I hate kids." he growled. 

She laughed, "Bucky, it's ten thirty. On a school night." 

He pulled into the park's parking lot and took his helmet off and then offered to help her off the bike. She accepted his arm and took her own helmet off. She studied him and he scowled at her. "What?" 

"Why'd you take me here?" she asked him. 

He shrugged. "I'm bored, you're... not boring." 

She snorted and walked onto the playground. She was short like Steve used to be, but very muscular. He tried not to notice anything else about her. He caught up with her and they walked slowly to the big jungle gym.

"Why doesn't Barton like me?" he asked her softly. 

Kate leaned her head back to look at him. "He doesn't not like you. He's just... I don't know. It's hard to explain." 

"He doesn't exactly want me around you, did Steve tell him I was a tramp or something?" he tried to joke with her and was relieved when she laughed. 

"Oh, he doesn't really mean that. See, now don't get too freaked out, when I was younger I had a crush on you. This was before I met you though, not that I don't think you're- ugh this sucks." she sighed. 

Bucky's face felt warm. "He's more afraid of what you'll do?" 

"Yes." she laughed. "I'm harmless, I swear. I don't think that's the concern though, he probably knows about my dad and what he wanted to do... so I guess it's both of us really. He just wants to protect me, and you I guess." 

Bucky nodded. "You're not my mission anymore. I just have a bunch of useless information about you in my head now. I can remember certain things about you but I can't remember the day I was born off the top of my head."

"March 10th." she quipped. 

He looked at her quickly and started laughing. "You graduated top of your class where you trained in advanced fencing and cello."

"You were a tramp." she smirked. 

He laughed harder and bumped into her, not too forcefully. She bumped him right back and nearly knocked him off his feet out of surprise. For a second, he imagined what it would've been like if he had trained her, but then stopped. They would kill this Kate and create a new one. They would hurt her like they hurt Natalia, and if he fell in love with her... they'd take her from him like they took Natalia.

That's what Barton was afraid of. 

Kate and Bucky had a competition to see who could do more pull ups on the monkey bars. He won but she swung her legs and hit him hard in the gut when he passed ninety. He dropped down and caught her when she dropped too, a little more clumsily than him. Her hands were on his shoulders and his arms where wrapped around her thighs. He lowered her and she awkwardly patted him on the chest before running to the swings. 

"I'm not pushing you, Kate." he shook his head. "You will go flying."

"Then swing with me." she nodded at him. 

He grumbled all the way to the swings and carefully sat down and swung a little. "I'm going to break these." 

"Let's go get ice cream." she stood up pulling him off the swings. 

He couldn't say no to ice cream. They hopped back on the bike and went to the nearest ice cream shop with an open sign still lit. Kate got chocolate and vanilla swirl cone, Bucky got plain vanilla with chocolate drizzled at the top. It was better than it used to be, he noted. They sat on the bench outside and waved to the ice cream man as he locked up and went home. They didn't talk for a while, they just ate their ice cream and watched the lights in the houses turn off. When they were done, Bucky took her back to the tower, Clint and Natasha were on a mission and no one would see them go in if they were playing board games. 

"Are you sure you wanna learn, Kate." he asked her. 

She sighed. They had argued on the way to the tower. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, and once again, yes." 

"It's different than your bow." he said as he loaded the gun for her. 

"No shit, Sherlock." her voice dipped low. 

He handed her the gun and pointed at the target as she put the noise cancelers on her ears. He walked her through how to shoot and stood back when she fired. The impact stunned her a little and she took a step back. "You good?" 

She smirked at the target and Bucky's jaw dropped. Right in the bullseye. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm damned good, Barnes."

"That's a small gun, those are easy." he said trying not to smile. 

"Then give me a big one?" she said with so much sass Bucky almost had to sit down and rub his temples. 

"Let's take it slow." he smiled as he took the gun away. 

She looked at him quizzically but then busted into laughter. "That's rich coming from you." 

It took him awhile but he picked up on it eventually. "Very funny. God, what did he tell you?" 

"Not too much but he implied so much more. Do you remember that? Taking the girls dancing?" she asked him.

"I remember... and I remember after too." he scowled. 

Kate rolled her eyes and sat on the table where Bucky had his knives laid out. He watched her look at them with bright eyes. His hand went to hers and he held it in his. She didn't flinch or look at him sharply, she just smiled  a small, gentle smile. He let her hand go and walked away for a moment. When he came back, she was sitting on the table biting her lip and looking at him. He stood in front of her and glared at her. She only glared back. 

"Is this a test?" she growled. 

He stopped scowling at her and looked at her hands. Both flesh, both small and slender with the nails cleanly painted purple. Then he looked at his, one metal and the flesh one. He kind of resented her for being so beautiful, but he resented himself for not being beautiful. He was too cruel to touch her. She took his hands and entwined her fingers with his. 

Then they said to hell with taking it slow.

 

 


End file.
